Croatia's government unveiled its draft budget for 2020, projecting 145.1 billion kuna (€19.5 billion) in revenues and 147.3 billion kuna (€19.8 billion) in total spending. The draft will be sent to parliament for approval.

Compared to the original 2019 budget, the plan projects 6.7 percent higher revenues, or 5.4 percent up from the latest revised 2019 budget which was also sent to parliament today. Government spending in 2020 will go up by 5.0 percent, or 7 billion kuna, compared to 2019.

As a result, the projected budget gap in 2020 is put at 2.15 billion kuna (€289 million), accounting for 0.5 percent of the country’s GDP.

However, “trends in extra-budgetary users’ accounts and in local authorities’ accounts as well as the consolidation of the necessary adjustments for next year” makes way for the projection of a surplus of the consolidated general government at 0.2 percent of GDP, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said.

The draft budget has been prepared with the assumption that Croatia’s GDP would grow 2.5 percent in 2020, Maric said.

The latest revision of the 2019 budget, which was sent today into parliamentary procedure, reads that total revenues would increase by 1.6 billion kuna or 1.2 percent to 137.7 billion kuna, whereas spending would be reduced by 1.3 billion kuna from 140.3 to 139 billion kuna.

The reduction is mainly thanks to the savings on lower interest rates, which accounted for cutting spending by 796.9 million kuna.

The biggest rise in spending was thanks to salaries of government employees, in addition to 849.6 million rise in spending for pensions. The government also earmarked 350 million kuna for the first stage of the construction of the future LNG terminal on the island of Krk.

(€1 = 7.45 kuna)